A New Dating App Requires Pretty Much Zero Effort or Interaction

Because who has time to swipe right these days?

By Shari Gab

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13 June 2017

When it comes to dating apps, the number-one complaint I hear from women is guys' collective failure to proceed. It’s a lot of “Hey,” “Hi” and “We should hang out sometime” with no actionable follow through. Ghosting before a first date has even happened, if you will.

A new app, First, took note and cut out all that morass. There’s no swiping, and no messaging. Users simply connect the app to their Facebook accounts and post proposed date ideas to a communal feed. The dates can also be filtered by activities (“the movies”) or by food and drink (“pizza”). No messaging and no exchange of contact information. You just show up and get to it. And if you don't have any bites, your date will expire four hours before the scheduled time.

There’s also an option to be upfront about who is paying by selecting “My Treat,” “Your Treat” or the ol’ Dutch “50/50.” I’m going to go out on a limb and say this function means First may be bordering on sugarbaby territory, at least if it were to fall into the wrong, er, appropriate hands.

First App (2 images)

Caveat emptor: First discloses the time and location of all date offers publicly, so if your ex is on the site, he/she could certainly come troll your date. There's also a flake policy: if you no-show twice, you’re banned. So, this app likely won’t do well in L.A. We kid, we kid. Sort of.

If First's lack of vetting gives you pause, take some solace in the fact that users can privately rate their dates after the fact. Based on the ratings, a user can become “verified,” Twitter-style, by receiving a checkmark next to their profile. Way to go. You date well.

Available currently for iOS, the fish in First's sea aren't currently plentiful, but the pool is growing by the day.